The instant disclosure relates to medical devices. In particular, the instant disclosure relates to sensor-bearing tips that can be mounted to medical devices for use in the human body, such as diagnostic and therapeutic catheters.
Catheters are used in a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, for example to diagnose and/or treat conditions such as atrial arrhythmias. For example, a catheter carrying one or more electrodes can be deployed and manipulated through a patient's vasculature and, once located at the intended site, radiofrequency (“RF”) energy can be delivered through the electrodes to ablate tissue. Alternatively, or in addition, the electrodes can be used to create a map of the electrophysiological activity of the patient's heart. Further, the electrodes can be used to localize (that is, determine the position and orientation of) the catheter as it is deployed and manipulated to the intended site.
In some catheters, an additional sensor, such as an ultrasound sensor or optical sensor, is provided in the catheter tip to provide additional information during performance of the primary diagnosis or therapy. For example, RF ablation catheters can include one or more ultrasound sensors, located within the hollow tip of the catheter, that can be used to monitor the progress of a lesion forming in the tissue being treated and/or to confirm one or more characteristics of the lesion once created.
Extant sensor-bearing tip medical devices, however, are subject to various issues, including excessive irrigant outflow, the passage of debris from the interior of the medical device into the patient's body, and distortion of signals to and/or from the sensors. Although there are known solutions to some of these problems, they very often exacerbate others (e.g., a rigid cover can be used to prevent the passage of debris, but increases signal distortion).